Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Ants are an important part of the natural environment. They
feed on pests like fleas, flies, and termites, and their tunneling helps
aerate the soil and recycle organic matter. However, ants can also be
common household pests, and dealing with them can be a headache. The
key to avoiding these pests is to understand your options. Fortunately,
there are many toxic-free and environmentally friendly methods that can
be used to stop an ant problem! These non-toxic methods are safer and
are effective for longer periods of time.

Ants want to get in our homes and child care centers in order
to find food. Follow these three important steps to keep ants out:
1. Remove food.* Useant-proof glass or plastic containers with tight-fitting lids
to store food (including pet food). Glass jars should have a rubber
gasket or seal. Ants can climb up the threads of screw-top jars! Dry
goods like flour, rice, and sugar can also be stored in containers in
the refrigerator or freezer.* Clean up daily, especially kitchen floors, cabinets, and underneath appliances.* Ant-proof your trash. Make sure the food waste in
your garbage can doesn’t stick around—Clean it out! Rinse out empty food
containers before you throw them away or recycle them. Don’t leave
food scraps in the garbage overnight. Take out the trash often.

2. Remove entryways. Seal up cracks and
crevices that give ants a way in to your child care centers and homes.
Use caulk to seal the cracks between walls and floors, around windows
and doorframes, and around cupboards and bathroom fixtures. You might
also install door sweeps and weather stripping to prevent ants from
slipping in under the doors.

3. Remove outdoor ant hiding places.
Avoid attracting carpenter ants by removing any piles of wood from
under or around your home. Diseased plants, tree prunings, fallen fruit,
and fallen leaves can also make great hiding places for ants!

So, you’ve done all you can to keep the ants out. But, what do
you do when you’ve got ants in your home and need to control them? The
first step is to locate their nest and their path from their nest to
their food source, since ants follow a regular trail. The last step to
deal with these ants involves either killing or repelling them, and
several non-toxic methods to do so are included below. Make sure you
keep up the ant prevention steps described above! Even if ants are
repelled, they may find another path to their food source. Even if ants
are exterminated, another ant colony may show up and discover the food
source later.

Getting Rid of Ants
1. Soapy water. Drown ants marching through
your home by wiping them up with a sponge and dunking them in soapy
water. Also, wipe up the trail they leave behind—that way, their
buddies won’t be able to find their way inside again.
2. Pet food barrier. Ants cannot cross soapy
water. You can create a barrier by putting your pet’s food dish in the
middle of a pan of soapy water.
3. Borax ant-bait. Borax is a low-toxicity
laundry powder that kills ants. Borax does not vaporize into gas, so it
is safer to handle than many household pesticide products.Recipe for Ant Bait
* 3 cups of water
* 1 cup of sugar
* 4 teaspoons of Borax

Mix ingredients and divide the mixture between 3–6 screw-top
glass jars. Loosely pack the jars halfway with cotton balls or other
cotton stuffing. Screw the lids on tightly and seal with tape. Then,
poke a few holes in the top of the jars, and place them near points of
ant entry and along their trails. Mark the jars clearly as ANT BAIT and
be sure to put them where pets and children cannot reach them.

If you work with large amounts of Borax, inhaling the powder
can be irritating—wearing a mask is helpful! As with all potentially
hazardous materials, store Borax and boric acid out of the reach of
children and pets.

4. Conserve outdoor ant nests. While ants are a
pest when they come inside, they are important allies in your garden.
Native ant colonies eat lots of pest species like fleas and termites
and aerate the soil. Did you know that they also fight off fire ants?
Keep the outdoor ants happy by leaving their nests undisturbed.

If you have fire ant mounds, be very careful! Fire ants
are notorious for their bites and stings. Keep a lookout for their
mounds, which look like hills of loosened soil. Marking them with flags
or sticks will help others from accidentally disturbing them. When
dealing with fire ants, BE CAREFUL and wear shoes and socks rolled over long pants.

Inside your house, ants are annoying little pests. If you
follow the steps above, you’ll be able to keep them where they belong—doing their important work in the great outdoors!

Jennifer Li is passionate about advocating for improved health
in communities. After interning at the Museum of Life and Science last
summer to promote healthy living, she is excited to build on her
experience to make a difference in improving environmental health with
Toxic Free NC.

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Did you find this article helpful? Approximately once a month, Toxic Free NC volunteers
or staff write a newsletter-ready article, focusing on children's
environmental health, that we send to child care centers across North
Carolina.

These articles contain helpful tips on ways child care centers, staff,
and the children's parents can reduce kids' exposures to toxic chemicals
and pesticides...we also think they're great for using in your home, too! We hope you find the article useful and feel free to share.

If you would like any of the past articles, please email Lynne Walter for copies or to be added to our Child Care News list. Examples of past articles include:

Having Fun in the Sun: Avoiding Sunburn, Skin Cancer, and Toxic Chemicals, too

Text Copyright 2013 by Toxic Free NC. NC Child Care
centers have permission to use text for educational purposes
with their parents and staff, provided full credit is given to Toxic
Free NC www.toxicfreenc.org

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

After twelve wonderful years as Executive Director here at Toxic Free NC, I will be stepping down at the end of 2013.

This is a big transition for us! But I am delighted to share with you that I will not be leaving the work, or Toxic Free NC. The Board of Directors has graciously created a new staff role for me focused entirely on advocacy for environmental health and justice.

More than ever, I feel a tremendous urgency around the need for toxic chemical reform. Our scientific understanding of how pesticides and other toxic chemicals affect our health and development is staggering. The gap between that science, and our food and chemicals policy in the US, and here in NC, is unacceptable. Children with cancer is unacceptable. Polluted food and water – polluted breastmilk! – are simply unacceptable. These aren’t fringe beliefs. People from across the political spectrum are demanding safer products, and public policy that supports our health and safety. Our moment is now!

As a working mother with two small children, I also feel more acutely than ever the limits to my energy. As Toxic Free NC has grown, we need a Director who can focus on building and managing this dynamic organization. I am thrilled for the chance to return to my first love (well, my first professional love): Winning our advocacy campaigns.

I very much look forward to working with a new Executive Director who will bring fresh energy and approaches to leadership. I am also grateful to all of you for making Toxic Free NC such a rewarding organization of which to be a part.

Thank you for supporting us, and for sticking with us as we bring on new leadership. Together we are building a stronger future for our health and environment in North Carolina.